Living in the Past: Why are we still mailing in entry forms?

I have a bone to pick here people.

A few weeks ago, I filled out a few entry forms for some solo competitions and shooed them along in the snail mail system. I also typed in my name on a website and payed through PayPal in about 1 minute. Guess which one I enjoyed doing more?? Guess which one brought about more peace of mind upon entering the competition??

You guess it! Writing down my information on several different entry forms, filling out an envelope, providing another envelope for my ticket and providing some stamps to boot, was much more fun!! WRONG

I've got to rant about the perpetual use of old-fashioned entry forms for competitions. Why do games still do this when we have this little thing called the internet? You know, the thing you're using to read this very rant!? Look, it's not like it takes a lot of time per say, to fill out the entry form, fill out two envelopes and put them in the mail. It's once they're sent that scares and bothers me. I've heard of more than one horror story of an American or Canadian competitor having their entry form lost for some contest in Scotland, only to be booted to the curb and forced to watch the contest from the sidelines. It's nae right!

I don't understand why highland games, which are always pining for more entrants (i.e. entry fees), would chance having money lost in the mail, or not received by the "deadline" and having to turn down a potential competitor (and money spender). I entered online for the Toronto Indoor Games recently, and it was the easiest competition I've entered thus far. Not only were entry fees quite reasonable, it took hardly any time and I paid right away. As soon as I had paid, I knew I was entered and good to go. No two or three week waiting period thinking, "Gee I hope they got what they needed...I haven't heard from them yet..."

Isn't there somebody in our massive piping/drumming universe that can create a website for online entry? Maybe there already is one, and obviously I haven't researched it. But that's not the point is it people? Someone out there should create an easy to use template that any highland games can cling on to and use for all of their entries; not just piping/drumming. Heck, you could charge a small fee for a games to use it each year, or put in ads to make a little mula back.

I just think it would make the lives of the competitors and games organizers much less stressful and would streamline the process significantly. Now, let's say it's an open competition in which the competitors are required to submit multiple tunes for each event to be picked out by the judges ahead of time. Couldn't a person set up a "notes" section for submitting tunes with each person's entry?

Not every association is run like the PPBSO; competitors can enter all games online on one website. For associations like the EUSPBA though, where the games are overseen by the association and not run by it, the association could "suggest" using a certain website to use for entries. Even small Scottish games, which as we know are steeped in much more history than over here, could possibly upgrade to the 21st century! For example, the RSPBA has online entry and fee memberships for bands, which is especially great for overseas bands.

Again, filling out an entry form and mailing it in isn't the most inconvenient thing in the world, but, why not update the system to ensure competitor satisfaction? Games could even move the deadline closer to the day of the event, and possibly have more entries (i.e. money!!). I ask thee, what dost thou have to lose??